Calling all butt-kickers and cheerleaders!

[Gen]

Originally Posted by realcdn

There's an ice cream type product marketed as high protein. I can't remember the name of it. I found another that is only sold in Canada (YoPro), but that's not the one I was thinking about. While searching though I found a thread on another board that has a lot of ideas for homemade protein ice cream.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=491806

Oooo... and all kinds of recipes with it...

http://www.biprousa.com/recipes.asp

Yum! Thanks for that! I love all the ideas! I had cottage cheese with peanut butter and strawberry jam for breakfast. It was yummier than I expected too!

[clubchub]

Originally Posted by Gen

Seriously, see if you can find some quark. (Though it tastes just like lowfat plain yogurt, so that would probably work the same.) I had some last night mixed with chocolate baking powder and a bit of sugar and it was gorgeous! If you don't like chocolate, I'd try some vanilla and cinnamon maybe.... mmmm maybe I'll try that next. Vanilla with cinnamon and a bit of brown sugar.

I do indeed like chocolate. I will have to give that a try.

Did not stick to my plan at the reunion today.

I hope to give a good report after the Christening tomorrow. UGGH.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by clubchub

Did not stick to my plan at the reunion today.

I didn't either.

My estimations on Fitday add up to 2940. It wasn't even a good refeed because 45% was fat. I only got in 160 of carbs somehow. Its all estimation, but still not very good.

I just had a big bowl of oatmeal to keep my hunger at bay, but I'm not feeling very strong at the moment. And I have to bake all day for a bake sale tomorrow. Ugh.

[Espi]

While fat is nom nom (that's how Merkans call it nowadays?) it just doesn't fill you up well for making me less hungry on the days thereafter.. in the old days it'd work like this: every time I tried to stick to a VLC approach and craved carbs, I've been taking in lots of fat first and then still fell for the carbs.
Now I try to hit carbs first & foremost.. and it can still get ugly at times.

However.. I'd say do NOT worry about it.. 2900 is a pretty good number for a higher kcal day and maybe it wasn't so good as a refeed, it was good for the soul (free meal!) and that's as important... now just suck it up a bit until the next one.
You are aiming for 2 higher calorie days in a week, I hope?

[Gen]

Originally Posted by Espi

While fat is nom nom (that's how Merkans call it nowadays?) it just doesn't fill you up well for making me less hungry on the days thereafter.. in the old days it'd work like this: every time I tried to stick to a VLC approach and craved carbs, I've been taking in lots of fat first and then still fell for the carbs.
Now I try to hit carbs first & foremost.. and it can still get ugly at times.

However.. I'd say do NOT worry about it.. 2900 is a pretty good number for a higher kcal day and maybe it wasn't so good as a refeed, it was good for the soul (free meal!) and that's as important... now just suck it up a bit until the next one.
You are aiming for 2 higher calorie days in a week, I hope?

Thanks
I tend to leave Friday and Saturdays as my higher cal days, but Fridays haven't been all that high (probably because I eat really low all day, trying to save up for dinner and then dinner's not that bad). 2900 is the highest I've had in three weeks. The only reason it bothers me really is because I was trying to stay on track through until next weekend when I have 3 - 4 high days. Almost a mini-break. Ultimately, though, it won't be that big a deal. The whole weekend NEAT has been high, and I got some workouts in as well both days.

Today while I was baking, I started to feel a binge coming on. I was eating the dough from the spoon which was so gooood and then I had three rice cakes with peanut butter, cocoa and sugar on them in quick succession. It was a very bingey feeling. So I stopped, cleaned up and went to the gym. Now I feel much better. I've made some stuffed peppers for dinner and everything should go back to normal.

Whatever normal is.

[TheWookie]

Good job on distracting yourself with a trip to the gym

[Gen]

Day 21

74 kg. WTF.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by TheWookie

Good job on distracting yourself with a trip to the gym

Thanks. I am trying.

[Espi]

Two options: either the extra food caught up with you, it has a tendency to do so esp when you don't drink a lot of water (the water gets sucked into the musklez later)
OR it's the whoaremoans.. where are you in your cycle? My wt spikes most abruptly when I'm about to ovulate (17th day mostly), so if you don't track it, that can be a nasty surprise.. actually nowadays appetite spikes then too.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by Espi

Two options: either the extra food caught up with you, it has a tendency to do so esp when you don't drink a lot of water (the water gets sucked into the musklez later)
OR it's the whoaremoans.. where are you in your cycle? My wt spikes most abruptly when I'm about to ovulate (17th day mostly), so if you don't track it, that can be a nasty surprise.. actually nowadays appetite spikes then too.

Its actually day 4 of my cycle so I am retaining a bit there. I'm sure its the food over the weekend and I'm probably retaining a bit from my workout sunday too; I lifted heavier for less reps and more sets. My body comp has changed, everything fits differently. Not better, mind you, just different. I do expect some kind of whoosh-like activity in the next couple weeks. It's frustrating, but there's just no possible way that if I stick to it I can stay the same size.

I'm taking it easier this week with activity. Rest week from weights; I never did the week off after "break-in". Not that I actually did break in. I'm eating low the first half of the week and higher the second half. Then I have my race on Sunday and I'll come back monday fresh.

Not that I'm off my diet. I'm just not going to worry about results this week thats all. I did resist all the baked goods next to me today. I've almost got iron will right now. I do want it, but, I can have a cookie or a muffin when I'm done and I look how I want. And its ok with me right now (today; this moment). How cool is that?

[clubchub]

Originally Posted by Gen

And its ok with me right now (today; this moment). How cool is that?

That is very cool. It's what we all strive for.
Keep trucking along!! You're doing well.

[Gen]

From Wednesday evening I ate tons, and got the stomach aches to prove that I can't eat like that anymore! I had plenty of carbs and chocolate and wine and then on Sunday I ran a 5k in my best time ever!

I have no idea what that time is, because I didn't see the time as I crossed the starting line but I did see that the time at the end line was 30:09! It definitely took me more than 9 seconds to get across the start line so that means that I acheived my long term goal of getting through a 5k in less than 30 minutes! Yay! Having everyone around you definitely does help.

I'm now back in caloric restriction land and today is new day one: starve day. I've started it with a 30 minute walk so its all good.

[Juleske]

Grats on the 5k! A nice confidence boost before you go into calorie restriction

[Gen]

800ish calories with 113ish g protein today. Tomorrows a bigger 1500ish calorie day and a workout.

I'll weigh myself and maybe do measurements in the morning. I didn't want to do it today because I knew it would be falsely inflated water weight numbers. Tomorrow will be too but not as bad.

[Gen]

Weight - 74.1 kg
Waist - 30 in
Hip - 38.5 in (.5" loss)
Arm - 12 in
Thigh - 23 in (.5" loss)
Bodyfat - somewhere between 26.1% - 27.6%

I'm still 74kg today and the bodyfat calipers didn't measure any different either.

I'm going to try to celebrate the 1/2 inch losses and look forward to next week when it might be better after a week of dieting.

I'm also considering lifting lighter (not that I'm lifting all that heavy lol). Its the only thing different about this diet and I'm just really not losing.

And then, maybe I won't. We'll see.

[clubchub]

Good job on the 5K.

Calorie restriction - no fun. Hang in there. I'm low again this week too after an overboard weekend. But not 800 low. I'm doing about 1500. Gotta have room for my dark chocolate at night. It keeps me sane.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by clubchub

Good job on the 5K.

Calorie restriction - no fun. Hang in there. I'm low again this week too after an overboard weekend. But not 800 low. I'm doing about 1500. Gotta have room for my dark chocolate at night. It keeps me sane.

To be honest I don't know how I do it sometimes. Some days its easy and others its not. I just figure if I can eat as low as possible one or two days a week it should be a good thing. Definitely not meant to be a habit though.

There's another 5K closer to home in a month, not for charity this time. I'm seriously considering it.

[Gen]

1450 calories and 105 protein today, maybe a need a quark and chocolate snack

Workout:
lat delt raises - 4 x 10
lunge 4x10
Row 4x10
back extensions 1x20, 3 x 15
Swiss ball crunch 4 x 20
Bench press 4 x 12
tricep raise 4 x 10

walk 5 min, run 15 min, walk 10 min, stretch 5ish min's

They were all with just 5 kg dumb bells. I dropped weight a little and increased sets. But now I'm off to find the Lyle McDonald article I half remembered that said it's a good idea to alternate heavy days and light days with more sets and reps for weight loss. Or one heavy day and 2 to 3 lighter days. I can't remember right now...

[Gen]

I did find that article. He recommends decreasing volume by 2/3 and maintaining intensity and adding 2 to 3 metabolic sessions with decreased weight and more reps and sets.

I'm probably going to do that and play with increasing calories slightly. Somehow. I'm thinking I might be having issues with very low calories because of my thyroid absence. I didn't think of myself as someone with thyroid issues before because I take medicine for it, but I seem to be reacting the way Leigh says someone with thyroid problems would. Kind of. I'm losing, as I've said over and over again, just very very slowly. Plus I haven't lost anything. I weighed myself again yesterday and I'm still 74 kg! But clothes are fitting looser. So, its fine, just wierd.

I've been doing really well with low calories some days and higher other days, so I'm not sure how I'd do with moderate calories all the time. We'll see...

I had 800ish calories again today. Weetabix cereal for breakfast, a protein bar for lunch, a yogurt a few hours later (just because it was there, I wasn't starving or anything) and pork chop and roasted veg for dinner. So, now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what kind of high protein snack to have. It stresses me out to try and figure out the lowest calorie highest protein snack I could have; I'd almost rather not bother! I'll probably just have a bit of chocolate/peanut butter quark-stuff and not worry.

[Gen]

At lunchtime today I did a quick workout that was supposed to be high intensity but it didn't really work out that way.

DB shoulder press 4 x 8
Squats w DBs 4 x 8
DB Rows 4 x 8
Back ext. 4 x 15
DB bench press 4 x 8
reverse crunch 3 x 20

I used the 8 kg DBs for everything except the back extensions and reverse crunches. I haven't used that weight for almost two weeks when I used them for the first time (up from 7 kg ) and it felt almost as if I should be using heavier weights. I expected to feel spent tonight and sore tomorrow, but I doubt it.

In other news, I've got my husband signed up for the gym so we'll be going up to barbells (if I can get him to do it).

Its refeed day for me today. I have 2100 calories planned and not really concerned with another hundred or three beyond that. Spicy chicken wings with spicy fries and a margarita in 20ish minutes! Woohoo!

[clubchub]

Enjoy your're refeed!

On days that you've consumed 800 calories and you're looking for a high protein snack, have a turkey breast cutlet or two. I keep them on hand all the time. I sprinkle BBQ rub over them and bake them in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes. Two 4 oz cutlets is only 240 calories and a LARGE amount of protein. I can't remember exactly, but 30 to 40 grams comes to mind. Throw in 4 oz of sweet potato and you have a healthy mini meal. Lots of protein, a little healthy carb action. And you will still be very low cal (although it sounds like you might need to go a little higher cal). You could substitute the turkey with tilapia fillets. They are very good too.

[Gen]

Originally Posted by clubchub

Enjoy your're refeed!

On days that you've consumed 800 calories and you're looking for a high protein snack, have a turkey breast cutlet or two. I keep them on hand all the time. I sprinkle BBQ rub over them and bake them in the toaster oven for about 10 minutes. Two 4 oz cutlets is only 240 calories and a LARGE amount of protein. I can't remember exactly, but 30 to 40 grams comes to mind. Throw in 4 oz of sweet potato and you have a healthy mini meal. Lots of protein, a little healthy carb action. And you will still be very low cal (although it sounds like you might need to go a little higher cal). You could substitute the turkey with tilapia fillets. They are very good too.

Thanks! I should get some of those. We do cook up a few most Sundays for weekday lunches. I tend to want something more snack like after dinner though. I should really just eat a little higher and plan better! lol

[Gen]

Yesterday I played with Galya's banana bread recipe and it was really good. Today I played with it some more, admittedly making it slightly less healthy with a tablespoon of sugar in a double recipe, but it's really nice!

I used one banana and added two tablespoons of espresso powder, one tablespoon of cocoa powder, and one tablespoon of sugar. It honestly tastes like a treat instead of a healthy breakfast. And its giving me ideas for healthy brownies.

[Gen]

I went a little overboard with dinner last night: roast duck. If they just left the starchy veg on the other side of the table! lol I suppose I didn't do that bad though. My estimates gave me just under 2000 kcals.

So anyway, I'll do my measurements tomorrow once I've depleted some of the extra water/food weight/etc.

I don't really care about the scale number anymore. I can't deny that my work pants today are hanging off of me. Also in a few weeks I think I'll need a belt to even wear my fat jeans.

I'm thinking of eating a little higher this week to see what happens. It's stupid how nervous that makes me. I'm now in a race against my 30th birthday in September. I've wasted enough time, I don't want to lose anymore. I don't even know what the goal is though; just, as good as I can look by my 30th. In the not so distant past it would have been 140 lbs but that doesn't look like it's going to happen with the way I've been recomping.

[Gen]

Day 36:
Weight - 72.2 (-2 kg)
Waist - 29in (- 1 in)
Hip - 38 in (-.5 in)
Arm - 11.5 in (-.5)
Thigh - 23 in (same)
Bodyfat caliper measurment - 19 cm (same)

This is the last week of my 6 week diet, but I'm going to continue on for another 6 weeks before taking a break, which luckily will be my birthday week! Yay! Let see what I can do by then.

Edit: I just want to add that after figuring out my food today, its the best I've ever done. 1245 Cals, 107 Carbs, 144 Protein. I don't know how I did it. I think I need more cals/carbs though b/c its a workout day...

[Espi]

Two kg in 6 weeks is an excellent result! A job well done

[Gen]

Thanks, its a far cry from the 2 lbs per week I wanted though. I suppose that was just never going to happen. Not this way anyway.

I'm actually not feeling very motivated right now. It might be just the moment though. I had a disappointing workout because I was tired and the gym was too hot with no air conditioning, and there were too many people there (the week before payday!) and it was the first day with my husband joining me and I was too concerned with whether he felt comfortable or not. He doesn't really want to lift seriously; he has "weight lifters" in a category that he doesn't like much, and he feels intimidated because he knows he doesn't know much about it, nor can he lift much compared to others. I just have to give him time to warm up to it I think. Or let him do what he wants and I'll do what I want. But I couldn't really relax and concentrate and my workout really suffered for it. And my mood followed.

[Gen]

Took a long lunch today and went to the gym to run and cancel out yesterdays crap gym visit from my mind. I ran for 30ish minutes and felt much better afterwards.

Then I met my husband for lunch and we went to Nando's. I had a 1/4 chicken, and we split some hummus and pitta, and some fries. I went a little overboard with the pitta and fries but still kept it under 2000 cals. No dinner tonight, not hungry anyway. Going to try to stay lower again.

Tomorrows plan is under 1200.

[Gen]

The plan was under 1200 but I've been starving and having frantic bingey feelings! I wonder if it's time for a refeed, time to buckle down and allow the fat to melt away or just TOM! lol

So, I skipped breakfast to keep calories low after yesteday's food and ended up desperate by 11 am, so I ate (by ate, I mean skarfed in a hectic fashion) my lunch. Then at lunch time I went for a coffee and had to r-e-a-l-l-y fight the urge to buy a muffin or something. I didn't, I bought a tiny granola bar (88 cals) after, on the way back to work. 4:30 - starving again! - I had my protein shake and went to the gym at 5:30 without much energy. I was so unenergetic, I thought I'd just walk while waiting for my husband to do his workout, but 5 mins on the treadmill showed me I had a bit more than walking in me. It's true what they say about energy, the more you give, the more you get. Amazingly so sometimes.

Treadmill walking - 5 mins
Elliptical, level 10, 8 to 10 kph - 30 mins
DB bench press - 9kg, 4 x 10
plank - 90 seconds (oddly, a record for me, I think my butt was too high lol)
DB squat - 9 kg, 4 x 10 (not very good form today, I fear)

That's it. I felt sadly triumphant to have the energy for that even.

Then I came home and had two squares of dark chocolate waiting for my pasta bake dinner. Then I had two more squares of chocolate.

Maintain is the name of the game this week, it seems. *sigh*

[Bytsi]

Just dropping in to say hi